Poll Books Online

Ancestry.co.uk have recently put online Poll Books that are part of the London Metropolitan Archives holdings. Although held by a London based archive these poll books cover the UK. They mainly cover the time period 1832 – 1872, but some date back earlier.

Prior to 1872 voters had to declare publicly who they were voting for. There was much concern that voters could be bought by a candidate to ensure their success. These documents are well worth searching as it was not just the wealthy who could vote, tradesmen often appear amongst the list of voters.

Comments

Hi Linda
Great stuff!
I have hit a wall with my reasearch into the Devon Courtney/Courtenay family.
I have got to 1726 the Marriage of John Courtney to Mary Williams in Ilfracombe Devon but am am having trouble obtaing a birth register for John.
Can you help?

Hi Susan, The West Yorkshire Archives http://www.archives.wyjs.org.uk/ will be the most likely place to hold the Poll Books you are seeking. They will also be able to tell you if any of them are available online. Hope this helps, Linda

About Me

History, particularly Family History is my passion. I have worked in libraries & archives, I teach family history, conduct workshops and give genealogy presentations. It seemed a shame to have all this knowledge & experience and not share it with others, so this website was born.